Golf manufacturers and retailers starting to blog

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, September 19th, 2006
Categories: Golf Equipment • Golf Media

I’m starting to see some other types of golf blogs popping up now. They’re blogs by golf manufacturers or golf retailers.

Alpha Golf is a friend of HOG and we have an AG Plasma driver review coming soon. Alpha Golf now has a new blog at www.alphagolfclubs.com/blog. They’re going to cover manufacturing practices, demystify the ‘science’ behind club and shaft design, and any interesting topics their readers request.

Golf Gods has long been an online source for golf gear. They now have a blog to help promote themselves and get some gear reviews online so their patrons can have an educated background on choosing what to buy from their site. Check out the Golf Gods Blog.

Fossil Trace Golf Course Review

This is the 2nd of a series of 3 reviews of golf courses designed by my new buddy Jim Engh. I will no doubt be reviewing more than a total of 3 Engh courses in the future but these are ones I evaluated on my recent Colorado trip.

Fossil Trace – The History

What a cool name for a golf course. Fossil Trace, located in Golden Colorado is on some very historic Earth. The name Fossil Trace comes from the great find of fossils found on the course. There are various fossils ranging from 64 million year old Triceratops footprints to palm fronds.

Behind a great rock wall left of the 12th green many of the fossils are on display. Once you are done recording a birdie on #12 like I did, you can go look at some Triceratops foot prints.

Clay Mining

The fossils aren’t the only history lying under the plush fairways of Fossil Trace. Back in the late 1800’s this piece of land was a clay quarry. Many holes have remnants of the old clay mining operation. Several holes have very cool and rustic mining equipment. The first hole (above) has an old mining smelter chimney which Jim Engh liked so much he left it right in the middle of the fairway. The old mining tractors parked near many of the holes add a very unique look and feel to the course.

12 approach, mining equipment, rock spires and fossil wall (left)

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Michelle misses the cut by a Wie 14 shots

Written by: Tony Korologos | Saturday, September 16th, 2006
Categories: LPGA Tour • PGA Tour

Michelle Wie simply does not have the game to compete on the PGA Tour. She finished dead last at the 84 Lumber agaist one of the weakest fields of the entire PGA Tour season. She missed the cut by 14 shots. After day one, she was 11 shots behind the leader. After day two she was 23 shots behind the leader.

I’ve been saying this for over a year now. It’s time Wie focused on the LPGA. It’s time Wie put her PGA dreams, Masters aspirations and whatever other fantasies her bonehead crew are brainwashing her with to bed. It’s not going to happen any time soon Michelle and your “it just wasn’t my day” comments don’t cut it. “It’s just not my league” would be more like it.

Jay Flemma has posted a great opinion on this same subject and I couldn’t agree more with him. Check out “What planet are Wie on?”

Here are some interesting quotes:

“She’s certainly not scaring anybody around here.” ~Scott Verplank

“She keeps talking a good game when opposing the guys, but keeps playing a mediocre one. No wonder some of the PGA Tour players, polite and patient with her until now, are questioning what she’s doing playing against men when she doesn’t have the game for it.” ~AP

“Michele’s failures in the PGA tour events aren’t so much about her being female as they are about her lacking experience. However, her performance to date definitely indicates that her presence there in the first place has everything to do with that “novelty” aspect which is gender related. It’s becoming embarassing. Maybe they should start a “teen phenom” tour and have all the best boys and girls compete against one another. Then she could gain the experience she needs without having to accept all the sponsors’ exemptions and the boys would have a shot as well since they’re not getting those now. She does need to play more than the LPGA is currently allowing before she can get her card, I just don’t think it should be with proven players on the PGA when many mini-tour players could kick her ass. I think her ambitions are terrific and she should stick to them, but she needs a better path and better representation in order to get there instead of being a cash cow.” ~Golf Chick

“Michelle is not ready to compete against the men on a regular basis, yet she is repeatedly given canned, ready made excuses that are supposed to convince us otherwise. Despite harsh reality, her handlers and enablers are still feeding false hope to this young woman and cashing in on her failed dreams.” ~Jay Flemma

Michelle Wie did place in the top five in several categories in the 84 lumber:

#1 in total bogeys.
#3 in total putts per round (which isn’t good).
#4 in average putts per GIR (which isn’t good).

More stats… Keep in mind the field is 144 players BUT 10 players withdrew. So essentially the field is 134. Any stats which Wie is in the 130+ range is essentially finishing at or near dead last:

Statistic	Round 1	Round 2	Overall	Rank
Total Eagles	0	0	0	30
Total Birdies	0	1	1	136
Total Pars	13	8	21	109
Total Bogeys	5	8	13	1
Total Double Bogeys	0	1	1	34
Other scores	0	0	0	15
Penalties	0	1	1	44
Driving Distance	274.6	252.5	263.6	124
Fairways hit	11	10	21	92
Fairway Opportunities	14	14	28	82
Longest drive	286	285	286	138
Greens in reg	11	9	20	113
GIR opportunities	18	18	36	82
Sand saves		0	0	47
SS opportunities		1	1	45
Avg Putts per GIR	2.091	2.000	2.050	4
Total Putts Per GIR	23	18	41	102
Total Putts Per Rd	34.00	33.00	33.50	3

I say we bloggers start a grass roots movement to boycott all Wie articles until she WINS something… ANYTHING… a game of checkers perhaps? Maybe the fad will catch on and the big boys will realize they’re giving a ton of air time to a NON story.

Golf Stretching DVD by HOG contributor Mike Pedersen

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, September 14th, 2006
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Fitness • Instruction • Reviews

HOG’s golf fitness contributor Mike Pedersen has just released a new golf stretching DVD:

Golf Stretching for a Better Swing

I’m glad to hear that this disc is selling like mad, over 800 in the first week! Mike’s fitness articles here can be easily found by clicking on the golf fitness category in the categories list.

Mike is a veteran fitness trainer of 24+ years, the last 10 of which he’s been focused completely on golf. His golf fitness site, Perform Better Golf has been up and running for 6 years.

Improve your game

If you employ some of the over 40 minutes of golf stretches into your weekly routine, you will improve your game. You’ll increase your driving distance, your accuracy, your consistency and especially your endurance.

Pick your stretch

I found certain stretches to be of particular interest to me. I’m not the most flexible guy in the world, unless you think a 2×4 is flexible. The back stretches have proven to help me with my bad back and keeping it loose. I also found a stretch for a recurring problem I’ve had when I spend too much time behind the computer blogging articles like this one. The problem is a nasty knot right behind my left shoulder. Mike has a great stretch that nails that knot and helps me work it out.

Missing stretch

OK I know Mike is a big boy so I’m going to give him some critiques on the DVD. One major omission is the “15 second, running onto the first tee with one shoe on, a cup of Starbucks Coffee in one hand and a piece of lemon pound cake in the other” stretch. I’m not kidding. What’s a set of a few really quick stretches a guy who is running late can do for a few seconds just to make sure he doesn’t blow a gasket on the first tee?

Menus

One thing which would be great for the next revision of the DVD would be a main menu which has links to the different stretches or core stretch areas. That way a user could go right to the one stretch he wants to watch rather than hitting the scan button for 10 minutes to find it. I’d like to see a main menu with a few links to legs, arms, back, torso etc.

Conclusion

Mike Pedersen has a winner here. Many people throw down $500 for a new driver without blinking an eye, in the hopes that it will improve their game. Thinking about that makes the $24.95 price tag of Golf Stretching for a Better Swing an obvious no-brainer.

Red Hawk Ridge Golf Course Review

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
Categories: Course Reviews • Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • HOG World Tour • Reviews • Travel
Tags: Colorado Golf

I’ve got three courses to review in the near future, all of which were designed by my new pal Jim Engh. Red Hawk Ridge, located in Castlerock Colorado, is the first of these three.

The Course

The landscape in Castlerock is hilly. There are some rolling hills and small mountains surrounding this neat area. At the top of one of the small mountains is what is obviously “the” Castle Rock. Red Hawk Ridge (RHR for short) winds it’s way up and down the Eastern mountainside of the hilly Castlerock area.

Routing

One of the buzzwords I’ve learned recently is “routing.” Thanks to Jay Flemma and Adam Clayman for clarifying something I knew deep down but never realized: The routing (direction the course and it’s holes travel) is extremely important.

There can be a real “flow” to the way a golf course plays. The flow from tee to fairway to green and the flow from hole to hole are very important. If a course isn’t laid out or routed well, this flow can be compromised and the enjoyment the players experience can be greatly diminished along with other factors like pace of play and course conditioning.

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